IDENTIFYING AND DESCRIBING THE STRUCTURES OFARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL TEXTILES

The Early Textiles Study Group has decided to offer a two-part course in English on identifying textile structures. The course is intended for people of any age who have to analyse and describe early textiles as part of their employment or research work.

The initial Part 1 will take place 26-30 August and 2-6 September this year (2019). The venue will be Britannia Mills, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, HD7 5EH. We apologise for the late advertising of this event. We have 6-7 places still open.

OverviewFollowing the CIETA model (https://cieta.fr/courses/), each part or session will take two weeks. Part 1 will be on simple weaves and Part 2 on complex weaves (‘complex’ defined as made on a loom with a figure harness).

Part 1 will cover the range of simple weaves. Participants will learn how to analyse and record structures using samples of different fabrics, a standard form and agreed terminology. They will also be introduced to different formats of weave diagram. Types of looms and how these may affect fabric structure will be discussed and some simple weaving undertaken to give a proper understanding of the process.

For Part 1, we shall take a broader view of early textiles than the CIETA course and shall cover in addition linking and looping, twining, pile structures, and weaving to shape (please see attached draft programme).

The ETSG course is intended for people of any age who have to analyse and describe early textiles as part of their employment or research work. The course will be suited to people with some practical experience of textiles already i.e. with some weaving experience and/or work already undertaken with archaeological or historical textiles. People wishing to take Part 2 will be asked to take Part 1 first.

Our aim in particular will be to increase the confidence of participants in their analytical skills, needed especially when faced with unfamiliar or poorly-preserved surviving textiles.

The specific learning outcomes for Part 1 will be:

to be able to identify basic weave structures and their variants

to be able to record in a standard format any structures analysed

to understand the relationship between loom technology and fabric structure

Practical informationThe initial Part 1 will take place this year (2019) over two weeks from 26-30 August and 2-6 September. The tutors will be textile archaeologist Hero Granger-Taylor and weaver Ruth Gilbert. The venue will be The Loft Space at Britannia Mills, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, HD7 5EH, https://en-gb.facebook.com/theloftspaceBritanniaMills/

We are planning for classes to last from 10 am to 5.30 each day, the late start allowing participants to travel from some distance if they need to.

There are a number of museums nearby with useful textile and loom collections, and we aim to visit one or two of these.

We envisage the initial Part 2 taking place in 2020, probably also in late summer, and based at the School of Historical Dress in London, http://theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk. The tutors for Part 2 would be anthropologist Sophie Desrosiers and historian Lisa Monnas, both specialists in European medieval textiles. Sophie Desrosiers has in the past been the tutor for the CIETA ‘sessions techniques’.

We may hold a second Part 1 before the first Part 2, in spring of next year. It is possible that this second time the Part 1 will be split into two separate weeks, with three or four weeks break between them.

For the initial Part 1 session, we are limiting the number of participants to 12.

For this initial Part 1 the charge per participant will be £240

The ETSG is very grateful to the Pasold Research Fund for a grant which will cover basic administration costs. We are holding the session in Yorkshire partly to keep costs down.

Students must arrange their own accommodation, but this should be relatively cheap by UK standards. Local hotels seem to be about £55-65 per night for a single or shared room. There are a number of other possibilities including shared holiday accommodation. We are preparing a list of useful addresses and shall send this out to people who have booked.

There is free parking near to Britannia Mills. There is a good train connection to both Leeds and Manchester, each about half an hour away.

We shall also circulate information on what equipment and books it would be useful for participants to bring with them.